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eBay: European PS3 Auctioneers Must Wait

Gamers over in Europe are no doubt seeing just how crazy the PS3 auctions are getting on eBay, and they may be considering taking advantage by purchasing import PS3s for sale. But eBay wants to disabuse you of that notion right now; an announcement posted yesterday on the site reads as follows:

"Members will not be permitted to list PlayStation 3 consoles and games on eBay.co.uk until the authorised European pre-sales period begins in February 2007."

And of course, eBay is enforcing a firm set of rules in addition to the aforementioned restriction, designed to protect bidders. For example, sellers must offer only one European PS3 per account, all listings are required to have a photo of the machine itself or a preorder receipt, and shipment of the console must be assured within 30 days of the start of the auction. The system must be purchased within the European region and PayPal is going to be the only acceptable form of transaction…all of this sounds pretty darn similar to the rules invoked for the North American PS3 launch.

Everyone's cracking down on importing now, especially after last month's Sony/Lik-Sang battle, where Sony won a court victory against the retailer for breaching intellectual property rights (sale of "grey import" PSPs). Since then, Sony's made things very clear; they will "utilize the full scope of the law" to halt retailers who practice importing in their tracks.